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Waterfront

Brian has long believed in a simple formula for waterfront development: remove the barriers to public access and provide high-quality public space along the water’s edge, and economic growth and development will follow. In 2005 he led the charge to secure a $279 million hydropower relicensing settlement from the New York Power Authority, which is funding much of the work at the Inner Harbor, and fought for the creation of the Erie Canal Harbor Development Corporation, which is directing the improvements. The past several years have seen an unprecedented transformation at Canalside and the next several years promise equally stunning changes at the Outer Harbor, along Niagara Falls’ waterfront with the partial removal of the Robert Moses Parkway, and in the Tonawandas.

Congressman Brian Higgins (NY-27), City of Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown and Erie Canal Harbor Development Corporation Chairman Jordan Levy announced completion of the project that reconstructed four cobblestone streets at Buffalo’s Inner Harbor.

“We set ourselves apart when we build on what is unique to Western New York,” said Congressman Higgins. “With this project, infrastructure rich with history becomes a path to our economic future, as we create an environment attractive to visitors and business alike.”

Congressman Brian Higgins (NY-27) announced ongoing work along the Outer Harbor’s Union Ship Canal funded with $2 million in federal funding provided through the Recovery Act.

“We continue to build, one project after another, on the great progress along Buffalo’s waterfront,” said Congressman Higgins. “With this $2 million federal investment in Western New York we are supporting jobs during the current construction phase and continuing to make this area, once economically dead, economically viable again.”

Congressman Brian Higgins, New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT), Acting Commissioner Stanley Gee and Acting Regional Director Darrell Kaminski today were joined by federal, state and local officials at a ribbon cutting to celebrate the completion of the $60 million Outer Harbor Parkway project in the city of Buffalo, Erie County.

Congressman Brian Higgins (NY-27) and Erie Canal Harbor Development Corporation (ECHDC) Chairman Jordan Levy announced the release of $5 million, secured through the New York Power Authority relicensing settlement agreement, toward a project to build the Buffalo Harbor Bridge.

Congressman Brian Higgins (NY-27) joined local residents, who served on the Outer Harbor Parkway landscape panel, as construction workers planted one of the last trees and put some of the final touches along the stretch scheduled for completion later this month.

Standing along the Erie Canal Commercial Slip, Congressman Brian Higgins (NY-27) outlined his plan for next steps in Buffalo’s waterfront development. The Congressman formally submitted the plan to Erie Canal Harbor Development Corporation (ECHDC) after receiving Bass Pro’s July 29, 2010 letter “withdrawing from further consideration of this (Canal Side) development” and has been working on implementing components of his plan over the last several weeks.

"Western New Yorkers have waited fifty years for waterfront development to happen and we aren't waiting anymore. After nearly a decade of talk there comes a point when this community should expect our business partners to either sign on the dotted line or we as a community must again stand up for ourselves and demand we move forward.

Congressman Brian Higgins (NY-27) issued a letter to Bass Pro Shops CEO Johnny Morris and President Jim Hagale calling on the company to make a final decision about building a store within Buffalo’s Canal Side waterfront development project in the next two weeks.

BUFFALO – Mayor Byron W. Brown today was joined by Congressman Brian Higgins, and Jordan Levy and Larry Quinn of the Erie Canal Harbor Development Corporation to announce a community development agreement that will bring investment and job creation to the city’s emerging waterfront and its traditional neighborhood commercial districts.